There are only three words that should ever be spoken when ordering at Seattle's Osaka Teriyaki: "Special to go." There are other things on the menu, but this is what you want!

For exactly $5 including tax, Osaka's special is unquestionably the best bang-for-the-buck feast since the notorious $3.87 China Star lunch special warmed my heart during my high school days in Bricktown, NJ. And like that famous meal of the gods, Osaka's chicken teriyaki special is a no-frills, surprisingly delicious, ample portioned masterpiece that never fails to satisfy.

Osaka Teriyaki's exterior belies the greatness that lies within. Dark, dirty, rundown, and surrounded by the dregs of Seattle's streetwalker scene, you might never think to try Osaka, it's just not worth dodging the sketchy characters and seedy transactions going on around the place. However, there is one brilliant bastion of pure genius that exposes the truth that Osaka's modest exterior hides: a sign that reads $4.57 special. Gadzooks! Sure, things that seem too good to be true often are, and most likely a sign such as this would warrant bribes to the health inspector, amongst other things. But not so with Osaka as the notion of too good to be true is exactly the opposite of what you get: the best five dollar meal west of the Mississippi. I kid you not!

"The special" is always the same no matter which Seattle teriyaki joint you hit up and is universally defined by the chicken teriyaki, rice, salad tirumvirate. But the difference at Osaka is the price to quantity to quality ratio. Think QNTY + QLTY / $$$ = Sum Total Chicken Teriyaki. Prepared as a rack of lean chicken, perfectly grilled and laid out over a bed of fluffy rice then drizzled with a sweet teriyaki sauce (add your own hots at your leisure) this is precisely what one should think when they consider teriyaki in Seattle. Accompanied by a crisp bed of iceberg lettuce with a few squirts of that watery peppercorn ranch dressing I've come to know, expect, and enjoy, and priced to move at exactly five bucks, this cheap, tasty, and satisfying meal is the standard by which all teriyaki should be judged. Sure, you may eventually discover better teriyaki with slight twists on the theme, but nowhere will you find better bang-for-the-buck grandiosity than the mighty Osaka special.

To the friendly ladies behind the counter who never fail to deliver the goods, I say, "Thank you. You truly are #1."